Pretoria - Allegations by a 9-year-old girl that her father’s girlfriend locks her in a cupboard under the stairs of his home when she visits him have caused the child’s mother to refuse the father unsupervised contact with his daughter.
But the father, who denied these allegations, turned to the Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg, in a bid for his daughter to once again visit him as before.
The child told her mother that her father’s girlfriend, among other things, puts glue in her hair, and pulls a blanket over her face, smothering her.
According to the child, the girlfriend also picks her up and drops her, “on purpose”.
The child’s parents were never married, but they have a parenting plan in place.
The child often used to visit her father and stayed over at his house.
During 2020, the man entered into a relationship with the girlfriend. According to the mother, the child told her that the girlfriend subjected her to inappropriate behaviour.
Despite the father’s denial of these incidents, the mother prevented contact between him and the child.
After the relationship between him and the girlfriend ended a few months later, contact resumed as agreed.
But the mother was recently told that the father and the girlfriend were back together.
The mother was upset that her child’s father only told her about this months after he and the girlfriend had rekindled their relationship.
The mother’s reaction was swift and punitive.
She insisted that the father may only have contact with the child under her supervision and only for a few hours at a time.
The mother told the court that she is not saying that the father is a threat to the child’s well-being.
She also does not allege that the girlfriend subjected the child to any mishandling or abuse during the period of the rekindled relationship with the father.
She said while the father is involved with the girlfriend, his contact with the child must be limited under supervision, as she “cannot expose (the child) to any form of abuse.
The father, meanwhile, told the court that he and the girlfriend had once again broken-up.
“I cannot, on the affidavits before me, find that Ms PW (the girlfriend) is guilty of the acts she is accused of having committed.
“Whether the accusations are the products of an active imagination of a little girl or of a misunderstood story, do not concern me,” acting Judge Sarita Liebenberg said.
She added that what did concern her was the well-being of a young child who was entitled to a close, loving and supporting relationship with each of her parents.
She said that by all accounts, the parties had been able to fulfil their respective parental roles, rights and responsibilities admirably.
The judge ordered that rather than an intrusive forensic investigation into the allegations, the parties should engage in mediation to resolve any outstanding or new issues that may arise in the years ahead.
“A consensus-based resolution of disputes is far more conducive to the interests of the parties and K (the child).”
The judge stressed that this must not be taken to constitute a finding that the girlfriend had, in fact, perpetrated any abuse or inappropriate behaviour towards K.
“The order seeks to pave the way for the resumption of a peaceful co-parenting relationship between the parties, with K’s best interests being front of mind.”
While the judge ordered that the child must visit the father as before and as per the parenting plan, the father must ensure that while the child is in his care, she does not have contact with the girlfriend if they once again get together.
Pretoria News